I felt as if every cell in my body was being torn in two. It was the feeling of being unmade. Gritting my teeth I willed my body to endure the pain. Trigon could not win. Somewhere close by, Raven was screaming.
Abruptly, the pain was gone. Cyborg, Beast Boy, Starfire and I all dropped to our knees, groaning. Beast Boy whimpered and curled into a ball on the ground, clutching his stomach. Trigon chuckled. I lifted my head.
"You think because you hold some remnants of power within you that you are a match for me? You are nothing. I am your father," he said, leering down at his daughter who stood with her head bowed in submission-at least she did until she heard that last word. Then I felt a ripple of power in the air that felt oddly familiar. The little girl's head snapped up just as a black pool formed around her feet and traveled up her body in a swirling vortex. The wind around us picked up and instinctively I reached for Starfire's hand. The black magic swallowed Raven for a moment before it formed into a giant raven that let out a screech I knew well. Standing where the white robed girl had been was a woman in a white priestess gown. Violet hair fell to her waist and the ruby gems on her belt blazed with power.
"You were never my father!" she said in her own voice. "Fathers are kind!" She blasted him with a beam of white power that I'd never seen before. He staggered and fell against a three-story parking garage.
"Fathers protect you!" Another blast that sent him roaring. "Fathers raise you! I was protected by the monks of Azarhan. I was raised by my friends. They are my family. This is my home, and you are not welcome!" Each sentence was punctuated by a laser beam. Each one seemed more powerful than the last. Trigon flailed, knocking into a skyscraper. Cyborg and Beast Boy cheered. Starfire squeezed my hand. Trigon righted himself and raised his arm to send out a beam of his own. Instinctively I sucked in a breath to cry out a warning to Raven, but she didn't need it.
She rose into the air lifting her arms high over her head.
"AZARATH METRION ZINTHOS!" Her voice echoed far across the city just before white energy erupted from her hands. I flung up my free hand to shield my eyes. My ears range with Trigon's roar of rage. And then all was instantly silent.
"Raven!" Beast Boy ran to the white figure that now lay on the pavement. By the time I reached them he had already lifted her up and was cradling her head against his chest. Before. I could check for a pulse her lashes fluttered and she moaned.
"Nice to have you back," I said grinning.
"I can't believe after all this time that it's over. The prophecy-"
"Doesn't matter. You are the only one in charge of your fate, Raven." She still looked awestruck. I'm not surprised. She'd been living with the idea that she was the harbinger of doom for her entire life only to find out that instead of ending the world she had saved it. Her smile dimmed.
"He's still there though. I can feel him. He'll always be a part of me."
"But he doesn't define you. Only you can do that. It doesn't matter what your family wants, what society wants, or even the planet. You decide who you are and where you belong." The words started to take on a life of their own as I lifted my gaze and met Starfire's green eyes over Beast Boy's shoulder. She got the message too. I wasn't exactly being subtle.
"Well that's one family reunion down, now what about the other one?" Cyborg said. In unison we all groaned.
"Hopefully we won't have to worry about him for a least a little while. If he's smart he's not going to want to mess with anyone who can take down a hundred-foot tall demon overlord. Besides, he lost his advantage. He was going to kill me before you could get here, but now that I'm free he knows that the five of us will stop at nothing until he pays for what he's done.
"So what do we do? The Tower's toast," Beast Boy pointed out.
"We'll go back and see the damage for ourselves. If it's still inhabitable then we'll get some rest and form a new plan of attack."
"And if the Tower's done for?" he prodded, making me frown. Cyborg nudged him.
"Bright little ray of sunshine today, aren't you?"
"Dude, I've had just about all the surprises I can take for one day."
"You're not the only one," I agreed. "Let's just go back to the Tower. If RyAnd'r is watching us we can't look like we're afraid to go back there."
The sound of police sirens grew louder coming up the street behind us. Three cop cars raced into view and I felt a sinking sensation in the pit of my stomach. Considering our recent encounter with the JCPD no one could blame me for being wary. My suspicions were confirmed when the first car skidded to a halt and an officer leapt out with his gun in his hands.
"Hands on the ground! You are under arrest!" His face was flushed, like he'd been waiting his whole career to say that. The Titans didn't move. There were six officers between the three cars, and soon six pistols were trained on us. Beast Boy groaned and helped Raven into a sitting position.
"What's the charge this time?" I called. The first cop, Officer Sparks, looked incredulous.
"You are under arrest for aiding and abetting a criminal. Starfire is under arrest for the attempt on Cat Grant's life last night." I swiped a hand impatiently over my face.
"We weren't even on this planet last night. Come on boys. I know ten-year-olds with better detective skills than you." Maybe not the best tactic with firearms pointed at my face, but I'd been having a rough day and I knew that these cops would never fire on us. Considering that the Titans had obviously saved the city from total annihilation via Trigon, surely most of the frenzy stirred up by Grant's articles had lost most of its momentum. Public opinion had a funny way of swinging in your favor when you save the world. These cops knew it too.
"We still want to bring you in. You may operate here but it is still our city to protect and you can't deny that ever since the Titans got here things have gotten out of hand. First all the increased meta activity, alien abductions and now that guy? We deserve answers-especially if we're really all fighting on the same side."
As a general rule I don't cooperate with police procedure. I've met way too many dirty cops who would love to stab me in the back at the first opportunity. But damage control was in order. If the Titans didn't repair the breach in trust with the police then we would have to face a life of vigilantism. It worked in Gotham because the Batcave was secret and Batman could hide his true identity. My team weren't so fortunate. There was no disguising Beast Boy or Cyborg. The Tower was a symbol, and up until recently that symbol meant trust. That mattered to me. Gotham didn't trust Batman. If he was ever caught he'd be in Arkham right beside Joker.
"If you promise to be straight with us, we'll tell you what we know."
The others weren't expecting it. They gaped at me. Starfire looked downright frightened. That prompted me to add, "We'll come in as allies, not prisoners. Be warned there's not a cell in this city that could hold any of us."
"Agreed," said Sparks, clearly relieved and proud of himself. There was probably a bonus with his name on it already sitting on his desk. The titans looked decidedly less excited. Beast Boy was straight up glaring at me. I put a hand on his shoulder.
"Sorry, but it has to be done."
"Robin, what of the crime of which they are claiming I committed? An attempt was made on the life of this Cat Grant. Do you suspect RyAnd'r?"
"Who else? We'll know more when we get to the station, but I suspect he wanted to use it as a final nail in your coffin."
"I have a coffin?" she squeaked. It had been so long since I'd had to explain a phrase to her that I just smiled at the normalcy of it.
"Expression," I said shortly. The moment was cut short as Sparks approached us. His gun was sheathed, but he had a pair of handcuffs in his hand. I narrowed my eyes.
"We'll meet you there, Officer," I said, squeezing Star's hand as a signal to leave. She rose obediently into the air. Behind us, Raven groaned, but formed a black disk that she, Cyborg, and Beast Boy rode as it too lifted into the air. Sparks watched us go looking disappointed. My tolerance of the police would only go so far. This entire affair proved how inept they were, and I was too tired to get into a pissing contest over whose authority held more sway.
A/N: The original episode did it so well that I really didn't see a reason to improve on it, but rather than skip over it entirely I just turned it into a little bit of character building. Obviously I don't own any of Raven's badassery. That came straight from the episode, The End. We're getting into the final showdown now. I apologize that my upload schedule has been a little off lately, but I'm trying to get back into the chapter a day posting that I was doing before. Ugh...life. I have an unfortunate habit of getting super inspired when life gets overwhelming. The older I get the less acceptable it is to blow off my responsibilities, shut myself in a room and just write all day. Ah well, hope you enjoy these little snatches as much as I enjoy writing them.